To infinity and beyond: “Geek” culture in the beauty industry

There used to be the stereotype of the geek or nerd and the stereotype of the beauty or the girly girl. The two would have never dreamed of being friends, much less combined.

Take the classic 80s movie, The Breakfast Club: the characters are living and walking versions of different stereotypes. There’s “the princess” who has her hair and makeup beautifully on point, and the “basket case” who gets a makeover at the end of the movie to look more like “the princess.” The movie seems to imply that you can’t be either weird or geeky and wear makeup. But with the recent rise of “geeky” makeup products, you can dress up and unleash your inner nerd all at the same time.

Makeup company LA Splash, which frequently reposts the selfies of customers on its Instagram, made waves this summer when they announced a Harry Potter themed line of lipstick. The colors ranged from light pink to deep green and had names like Nymph Adora, a nude, to Alastor, a bright, sky blue.

Harry Potter, although fairly mainstream, evokes geekiness in our generation’s culture in a way nothing else quite can. From cosplaying the characters, including the notorious circular glasses Harry Potter wears, to watching all the movies in a row with friends, those who follow the series can certainly be called fanatics. And what better way to market to those people than offering them yet another way they can embody the characters? I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t buy a pink lipstick that I essentially already own, just because the name of the new lipstick is Hermione.

Additionally, since I’m a Star Trek fan myself, Covergirl’s Star Wars line, which came out in September, caught my eye as well. Covergirl, which has also had a Hunger Games makeup collection, had Pat McGrath use the makeup collection for a “light” versus “dark” side photo shoot. The photos are thrilling, almost as much as the collection itself, which includes six shades of lipstick, six shades of nail polish, and two mascaras — one for the “light side” and one for the “dark side.” Fans have always debated what kind of Jedi they would be and which “side” they would be on, and with this collection, they can get one step closer to finding out.